Overview

In the promised land of the Sunbelt, people come by the thousands to escape the crush of Eastern cities and end up duplicating the very world they have fled. Can the land remain unchanged? In Blue Desert, Charles Bowden presents a view of the Southwest that seeks to measure how rapid growth has taken its toll on the land. Writing with a reporter's objectivity and a desert rat's passion, Bowden takes us into the streets as well as the desert to depict not a fragile environment but the unavoidable reality of abuse, exploitation, and human cruelty. Blue Desert shows us the Sunbelt's darker side as it has developed in recent times where ""the land always makes promises of aching beauty and the people always fail the land"" and defies us to ignore it. Blue Desert has no boundaries, no terrain, no topographical coordinates; it is a state of mind inescapable to one who sees change and knows that nothing can be done to stop it.

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9780816510818

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Reviews

Blue Desert is a rare find. -- Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. -- New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. -- Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. -- Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. -- Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. -- Kirkus Reviews

Blue Desert is a rare find. -- Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. -- New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. -- Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. -- Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. -- Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. -- Kirkus Reviews Blue Desert is a rare find. -- Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. -- New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. -- Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. -- Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. -- Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. -- Kirkus Reviews Blue Desert is a rare find. Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. Kirkus Reviews Blue Desert is a rare find. --Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. --New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. --Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. -- Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. -- New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. --Kirkus Reviews Bowden manages to write about these unfashionable topics with humor, style, laconic compression. --Edward Abbey The best book about the West this year . . . full of irony and mysticism and that eerie, spooky quality of the desert we all love. --California Magazine Blue Desert is a rare find. --Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. --New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. --Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. --Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. --Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. --Kirkus Reviews Blue Desert is a rare find. Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. Kirkus Reviews Blue Desert is a rare find. Wilderness The book is surely an experience you should try. New Mexico Historical Review There is much that is solid and thought-provoking in this readable book, and virtually everyone will find something of interest. Science Books & Films You have this eerie feeling of being present in the Arizona desert . . . painfully engaging. Los Angeles Times Bowden is literally a voice crying in the wilderness. . . . it's wonderful to listen to him talk. Phoenix New Times An unconventional but enthralling picture of the frenzy of modern life and its victims . . . a real gem. Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Charles Bowden was for three years a reporter for the Tucson Citizen, an afternoon daily newspaper. His stories covered everything from murder to copper strikes to interviews with Santa Claus and politicians. He became acquainted with the scientific floor of desert understanding and the political tumult of desert development while a researcher at the Office of Arid Lands Studies at the University of Arizona. He now lives in Tucson as a freelance writer, a pastime he describes as ""practically a free ticket to the asylum."" Nevertheless, he is author of Killing the Hidden Waters, Street Signs Chicago: Neighborhood and Other Illusions of Big-City Life with Lewis Kreinberg, and Frog Mountain Blues (with photographs by Jack W. Dykinga).

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